leven

Forms

leven (verb, weak: past leefde, past participle geleefd; noun: het leven, plural levens, diminutive leventje)^[1][2] Middle Dutch had the verb and the noun leven.^[3] The eastern dialects of Middle Dutch also had a noun levent, as Middle Low German and Middle High German did.^[3]

Etymology

The verb is inherited from Middle Dutch leven, inherited from Old Dutch libbon, inherited from Proto-Germanic *libēn-.^[4][5][6] The same verb is Old Saxon leƀon (Middle Low German ⟨leven⟩), Old High German lebēn (modern German leben), Old English lifian (modern English live), Old Norse lifa (modern Swedish ⟨leva⟩) and Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌽 (liban).^[4][6] Beside it stood a form with ⟨-j-⟩, continued in libbian, Old Frisian libba (modern West Frisian libje) and libban.^[4][1] The Old Norse verb also means “to be left, remain”.^[7][6]

The root ⟨*lib-⟩ is the zero grade of ⟨*līb-⟩, ⟨*leib-⟩, the root of lijf.^[4] It is the same root as in the strong verb ⟨*līban-⟩ “to remain”, the source of blijven, and its causative ⟨*laibjan-⟩, as in leave.^[4][6] The Germanic ⟨*b⟩ here comes by grammatical change from ⟨*f⟩, from the root Proto-Indo-European *leyp- (“to stick”); the ⟨f⟩ shows in lifna (“to be left”) and 𐌰𐍆𐌻𐌹𐍆𐌽𐌰𐌽 (aflifnan, “to remain”).^[4][1] Outside Germanic the root gave Lithuanian lìpti (“to stick”).^[4] The meaning “to live” is found only in Germanic; it is explained as having grown out of “to remain, to last”.^[4][6][8] Collitz instead compared the second part of Latin caelebs (“unmarried”), taken as “living alone”, and De Vries follows him, while the Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal finds that this explains nothing.^[9][2]

The noun is the infinitive of the verb used as a noun, as in Middle Low German and in lebēn (modern German Leben).^[4][9][7] Gothic used a derived noun instead, 𐌻𐌹𐌱𐌰𐌹𐌽𐍃 (libains, “life”).^[9][7] The Middle Dutch noun had merged with an older abstract noun formed from the same stem, and the two can no longer be told apart.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A form read as *levanthemo “living”, a present participle, is probably already found in the Lex Salica of the 8th century.^[4] The certain first record is libbon “to live” in the Wachtendonck Psalms of the 10th century, and leven appears in the Willeram around 1100.^[4][10] In Middle Dutch the verb is recorded in 1200 in di wile dater mugte leuen “as long as he might live”, and the noun in the same year in erlenget wart min leuen “my life was lengthened”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Middle Dutch used the verb for physical life, for living on something (leven bi or met), and for leading one's life by a rule, especially in the language of faith.^[3] The noun meant natural life, the spiritual and moral life, and a way of life.^[3] Dat openbaer leven or dat lichte leven was the life of a prostitute, and a deerne van den levene was a prostitute; the euphemism lives on in modern in het leven zijn.^[3][11][12]

In the 16th century leven was also an insurance term: a regulation of 1598 forbids insuring the life of any person.^[2] The sense “noise, uproar” belongs to the same word: the expression een leven als een oordeel, “a din like the Last Judgment”, probably meant the tumult of that day.^[11][12] Several phrases are loan translations: hij leve hoog from German, het leven is een droom from Spanish and het leven is kort, de kunst is lang from Latin.^[13] De Vreese condemned the transitive use, as in iets geleefd hebben for beleefd or doorleefd “experienced”, as a gallicism after French vivre.^[14] In Surinamese Dutch leven met means to live together with someone.^[15]

The verb went into Negerhollands (leev, lif), Berbice Dutch (lefu) and Menadonese Malay (léwen), and Afrikaans has leef and lewe.^[16][1] The sense “noise” was borrowed into Frisian and Ambonese Malay.^[16]

Timeline

• 8th century – The present participle is probably recorded in the Lex Salica.^[4]
• 901–1000 – Old Dutch libbon appears in the Wachtendonck Psalms.^[4][10]
• c. 1100 – The form leven appears in the Willeram.^[4]
• 1200 – Middle Dutch leven is recorded both as a verb and as a noun.^[4]
• 1598 – A regulation forbids insurance on the life of any person.^[2]
• 1899 – De Vreese condemns the transitive use as a gallicism.^[14]

Meanings

Verb

1. To live, to be alive: Mijn grootvader leeft nog.^[12][1]
2. Of things, ideas: to exist, to survive: Het Fries is een levende taal.^[12]
3. To spend one's life in a certain way: Ze leefden heel zuinig.^[12][17]
4. To live on, to subsist on: Hij leeft van zijn pensioen.^[3][2]
5. Of a subject: to be a matter of general concern: Dat thema leeft onder jongeren.^[12]

Noun

1. life, the state of being alive: Hij redde haar het leven.^[12][1]
2. A lifetime, someone's existence from birth to death.^[12][17]
3. A way of life: Ze leidt een rustig leven.^[12]
4. The activity of a certain sphere, as in het economisch leven, het nachtleven.^[12][17]
5. Noise, bustle, as in leven in de brouwerij brengen “to liven things up”.^[12][17]
6. The quick, the living flesh under the nails or skin.^[12]
7. (literature) A life, a biography, especially of a saint.^[1]
8. (video games) A life, one chance to play.^[1]

Word family

• levensloop
• beleven
• bedrijfsleven
• boerenleven
• buitenleven
• dierenleven
• familieleven
• gezinsleven
• heiligenleven
• hondenleven
• kinderleven
• levenloos
• overleven
• levend
• levendig

Related words

• lijf
• blijven
• English live
• German leben

Usage notes

Die het altaar bedient, moet van het altaar leven comes from 1 Corinthians 9:13 and means that everyone must live by his trade.^[18] Zijn leven hangt aan een zijden draadje means that one's life is in great danger.^[18] In Jewish Dutch bij mijn leven was an oath, after Yiddish.^[19][20]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Vries, Matthias de; Winkel, L. A. te, et al. (1882–1998), Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal, 29 vols., 's-Gravenhage / Leiden: Nijhoff / Sijthoff / SDU; supplement 2001; gtb.ivdnt.org
3. ^ a b c d e f g Verwijs, Eelco; Verdam, Jacob (1885–1929), Middelnederlandsch woordenboek, 11 vols., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff; gtb.ivdnt.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Philippa, Marlies; Debrabandere, Frans; Quak, Arend; Schoonheim, Tanneke; Sijs, Nicoline van der (2003–2009), Etymologisch woordenboek van het Nederlands, 4 vols., Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press; online via etymologiebank.nl
5. ^ Köbler, Gerhard, Altniederfränkisches Wörterbuch, online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling
6. ^ a b c d e Kroonen, Guus (2013), Etymological Dictionary of Proto-Germanic, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 11, Leiden / Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Franck, Johannes; Wijk, Nicolaas van (1912), Franck's Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal, 2nd ed., 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
8. ^ Haeringen, C. B. van (1936), Etymologisch woordenboek der Nederlandsche taal: Supplement, 's-Gravenhage: Nijhoff
9. ^ a b c Vries, Jan de (1971), Nederlands etymologisch woordenboek, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2001), Chronologisch woordenboek: de ouderdom en herkomst van onze woorden en betekenissen, Amsterdam / Antwerpen: Veen
11. ^ a b Veen, P. A. F. van; Sijs, Nicoline van der (1997), Etymologisch woordenboek: de herkomst van onze woorden, 2nd ed., Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Lexicografie
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Van Dale Groot woordenboek hedendaags Nederlands (2014), Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale Uitgevers
13. ^ Sijs, Nicoline van der (2005), Groot leenwoordenboek, Utrecht / Antwerpen: Van Dale
14. ^ a b Vreese, Willem de (1899), Gallicismen in het Zuidnederlandsch, Gent: Siffer
15. ^ Donselaar, J. van (1989), Woordenboek van het Surinaams-Nederlands, Muiderberg: Coutinho
16. ^ a b Sijs, Nicoline van der (2010), Nederlandse woorden wereldwijd, Den Haag: Sdu; with additions from the Uitleenwoordenbank (2015)
17. ^ a b c d WikiWoordenboek (Dutch Wiktionary), nl.wiktionary.org
18. ^ a b Stoett, F. A. (1923–1925), Nederlandsche spreekwoorden, spreekwijzen, uitdrukkingen en gezegden, 4th ed., 3 vols., Zutphen: Thieme
19. ^ Beem, H. (1975), Resten van een taal: woordenboekje van het Nederlandse Jiddisch, Assen: Van Gorcum
20. ^ Kamp, Jacob van de; Wijk, Jacob van der (2006), Koosjer Nederlands: Joodse woorden in de Nederlandse taal, Amsterdam: Contact